Morning Briefing
Summaries of health policy coverage from major news organizations
Just 8% Of Nursing Home Residents Have Received Their Second Covid Shot
Modern Healthcare: Few Nursing Home Residents Have Received Second COVID-19 Vaccine Dose
A little more than a month into the COVID-19 vaccination effort in long-term care facilities, only 8% of residents and staff have received the second dose of the vaccine, according to newly released federal data. As of Jan. 24, 2,567,019 doses of the COVID-19 vaccines had been administered to staff and residents in long-term care facilities, according to the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention. Only 201,293 of those vaccinations were second doses. The federal Pharmacy Partnership for Long-Term Care Program, which pairs nursing facilities with either Walgreens or CVS for vaccine administration, has distributed more than 4.5 million COVID-19 vaccine doses so far. (Christ, 1/25)
FiercePharma: Pfizer's 6-Dose-Per-Vial OK Boosts Its Supply Numbers. The Catch? Special Syringes Are Required
When pharmacists discovered a sixth dose could be pulled from vials of Pfizer and BioNTech’s vaccine, rather than the original five, it looked like a solution to supply-constrained vaccine rollouts. But now that the FDA has approved that tactic, Pfizer's counting those extra doses toward its established orders, The New York Times reports—which means it won't help boost immediate supplies. In fact, it might actually cut them. (Kansteiner, 1/25)
KHN: Big Business Boosts Vaccine Effort, But It’s ‘Complex Choreography’ To Get Shots In Arms
As states await the promise of a renewed federal pandemic response and expand the number of Americans who qualify for a shot, some governors are trying to scale up their covid vaccine operations — and smooth out the kinks — with the help of the private sector. In Washington state, Starbucks, Microsoft and Costco are lending logistical expertise and manpower to public health agencies that are trying to dispatch their doses of vaccines more efficiently. (Stone, 1/26)
KHN: Why Even Presidential Pressure Might Not Get More Vaccine To Market Faster
Americans are dying of covid-19 by the thousands, but efforts to ramp up production of potentially lifesaving vaccines are hitting a brick wall. Vaccine makers Moderna and Pfizer-BioNTech are running their factories full tilt and are under enormous pressure to expand production or collaborate with other drug companies to set up additional assembly lines. That pressure is only growing as new viral variants of the virus threaten to launch the country into a deadlier phase of the pandemic. (Szabo, Tribble, Allen and Hancock, 1/26)
Also —
Roll Call: Companies Unlikely To Require COVID-19 Vaccine, Walmart CEO Says
Companies are unlikely to mandate that their employees receive a COVID-19 vaccine to come to work, said Business Roundtable Chairman and Walmart Inc. CEO Doug McMillon. McMillon said no members of the Business Roundtable, a lobbying group whose members are CEOs of the largest U.S. companies, have chosen to require vaccination so far. (Weiss, 1/25)
